Chapter Thirty #3
a red light to change. Charles answered his call. “Emily,” he said pleasantly into his earpiece. “I was just about to call
for an update.”
“You’re not going to like the one I’m about to deliver.”
Stone’s frown deepened. “What’s happened?”
“Park rangers reported smoke near the Olympia National Forest. The call escalated up through local law enforcement, and we
intercepted it,” Lowe said shortly. “It’s the new Olympia facility, sir. The building is in shambles, and several of the facility
staff are dead, including Dr. Nichols.”
Charles sat forward in his seat. “Victor’s dead?”
“Oh yes,” Lowe said with feeling. “Very, very dead.”
“But how?”
“The security cameras were cut,” she said. “But just before they went out, Reece Davies was captured walking in through the
front doors.”
“Ah. Of course.” Charles’s jaw tightened ever so slightly. “Mr. Davies does seem to have a knack for disrupting my plans.”
The car began moving again. Charles sat back in his seat, steepling his fingers. “There were no empaths at the facility yet.
It is possible Mr. Davies was acting preemptively with his destruction, but that requires intelligence and foresight that
I simply don’t attribute to empaths. Out of curiosity, was the Dead Man’s body among the victims discovered?”
“No, sir,” said Lowe. “We’re not sure exactly what happened, but Agent Grayson appears to have escaped Mr. Davies’s rampage.”
“Isn’t that interesting,” Charles said slowly.
The car was picking up speed now, making its way toward downtown. “The situation at the Olympia facility is being handled,”
Lowe went on. “I assume you would like any thralls with a pulse to join the others?”
The Maybach passed a shuttle bus, every seat full. “Yes, thank you,” said Charles. “I think Mr. Davies may have unintentionally
shown his hand.”
“Sir?”
A dark hint of a smile curled on Charles’s lips.
“Just adjusting course ever so slightly. I can’t always control the sea, despite my efforts, but a good captain can weather any storm to port.
” He cleared his throat. “I’ll need to amend your instructions at Lumen Field, but first I would appreciate a status update on those others. ”
“Ambulances two through four are on their way to the stadium,” she said. “All thralls recovered over the past weeks are on
board. Their IV drips have just been altered to the same formula given to Dr. Whitman before her rampage at AMI. We’ll inject
that formula into the surviving Olympia thralls as well, and all will be ready for release on arrival, sir. Forgive my language,
but it’s going to get fucking ugly.”
“Excellent,” Charles said, with a slight edge. “And ambulance one?”
“It has acquired its patient from the airfield.” She cleared her throat. “He’s being transported with the utmost care and
will be waiting for you when you arrive.”
The pieces were moving into place. They would need a new facility for the corrupted empaths now, and a replacement for Nichols,
but Charles would have even more money and resources at his disposal after today. He would find both.
He’d find somewhere very special, just for Davies.
“Thank you, Emily. Your service won’t be forgotten.” Charles went to hang up, then paused. “Any chance you’ve heard from Lennox?”
Alex surveyed the ten newly corrupted empaths sprawled throughout Stone Solutions’ luxury suite with an almost parental pride.
Stone Solutions should have known better than to develop that sick little spreadsheet with its twisted plans for these empaths’ most treasured people.
And tonight had confirmed that Reece wasn’t a fluke, providing a nice little data point that Stone Solutions’ sick scientists would never, ever get their hands on: that even the gentlest of empaths could find their dark side when they were motivated by protecting their loved ones.
Sweet, sappy Dawson had even made Charles Stone’s lackey, Lennox, his first thrall.
Alex stepped up to the glass, watching the crowd gather in the stadium stands below. “All right,” he said, rubbing his hands
together. “Door is unlocked now, and the crowd is trickling in. We should be able to lose ourselves in them pretty quick and
find the best exit—”
“Why would we want to do that?”
Alex turned at the sound of Mireya Gomez’s voice. She was watching him, her head tilted, and her eyes had a dark gleam that
hadn’t been there a few hours ago.
“We don’t want to stay in a stadium of people—” Cora started.
“Except we do,” said one of the empaths. “We want to stay. And we want to see this place burn.”
The other empaths cheered.
Oh. Shit. “Wait,” Alex said, holding up a hand. “We’re way outnumbered. If we storm this stadium, we’re going to get caught.”
“We’re dealing with Charles Stone,” Cora said. “He’s going to have a plan—”
“I have a plan,” Dawson said. “We fuck this place up.”
“Yes!” That shout came from Dawson’s new thrall, Lennox, as he grabbed the Stone Solutions sign off the wall and swung it
into the glass bar. A few thousand dollars’ worth of high-end liquor shattered on impact, filling the kitchen with broken
glass. “Fuck it up!”
“Oh no,” Alex said. “Wait—”
But the empaths were already pouring out the suite door.